1968 Chevy Camaro Paint - When Good Cars Go Bad, Part 5

In The Paint Booth

Taking on any large automotive project requires loads of planning and dedication. At times the effort it takes to get through some of the obstacles encountered might seem insurmountable, but once you get past them, you learn to appreciate what it took to achieve your goal. Much like running at Baja or Indy, all of the grueling time spent during the race always comes down to those last few miles before you cross the finish line. For Peter Newell and the team at Competition Specialties in Walpole, Massachusetts, spending a little over a year working on Tony Rose's Project Karma Camaro came down to its final lap when they prepped the car for its trip into the spray booth.

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It's amazing to see all that happened in 12 month's time. Rose saw the total resurrection of his car, including a complete body teardown, panel replacement, new front subframe and suspension, and most of all, its new coating of color. It was a long road for the car (since it originally came in only for a repaint), but the more Newell and his team poked around, the more discrepancies they found that would need to be addressed. All of the hard work and perseverance came down to having the body massaged to perfection before it entered the spray booth. Just because the car was heading toward its completion stage, however, didn't make it any less intense with regard to the attention to detail required.

With the car fully masked and surface cleaned, it was time for Newell to give it a final once-over to be sure there wasn't anything that might have been forgotten. Keep in mind, proper surface preparation will win the game, while overlooked errors will contribute to catastrophic failure.t here.

Long days spent block-sanding to have the car's surface prepped as smooth as glass were hours well spent once the paint started to flow from the spray gun. With the final color laid down, Newell fastidiously wet-sanded and prepped the new paint (which sometimes can take over 40 hours alone!), removing any signs of orange peel followed by compounding and polishing the surface. The completed body, with its new coating of PPG Ferrari Grigio Silverstone metallic, is nothing short of breathtaking, and we can hardly wait to see the car in finished form.

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1968 Chevy Camaro Paint - When Good Cars Go Bad, Part 5

Sparing no expense for the final stage of Rose's '68 Camaro, when it came to color, Newell of Competition Specialties selected PPG's Deltron 2000 urethane basecoat and DT 860 reducer. Rose's color decision was a very dramatic Ferrari Grigio Silverstone metallic.

It's essential to properly prepare the surface of the body to be sure it is free of any contaminants like dirt, wax, grease, or skin oil, since they can easily ruin a paintjob. To ensure the surface is ready to go, SEM's SEM Solve (#38371) pre-cleaner, Gerson tack cloths, and DuPont Sontara static control wipes (#PS-3975S) are a must.

Working with PPG's Global Refinish System ensured that all of the products would interact correctly once they met the body of the car. Pictured from left to right are their D870 Fast Thinner, D894 High Solids Clear, and D884 High Solids Hardener.

One of the final items to be addressed is seam sealing. Newell prefers to use Medallion Repair System's gray urethane sealant adhesive (#RS-228) and a caulking gun to seal the deal.

Competition Specialties team member Brian Jordan uses 3/4-inch masking tape to prepare the rocker panel area for seam sealing.

Using Medallion Repair System's gray urethane sealant adhesive and a caulking gun, Jordan lays down a nice even bead following the rocker seam. Once completed, he uses his index finger to smooth the bead.

Since the rear window valance and taillight seams were welded smooth, Jordan masked off and proceeded to seam seal the roof drip rails followed by the trunk gasket area. The sealer dries to the touch in one hour.

With the booth vents turned on to create a vacuum, Jordan proceeded to blow the car clean of any surface debris. Special attention was paid to all areas, especially the tightest confines like the taillight regions, where contaminants can easily hide from view. After this was completed, Jordan then wet down the floor of the spray booth.

Once the body is blown clean, Jordan likes to run his hands along the body panels to feel for any unusual surface irregularities that may have been missed. This way there's still time to make final corrections before the paint gets laid down.

After the final inspection, Jordan proceeded with SEM Solve pre-cleaner to remove any surface contaminants like wax or skin oil, using lint-free soft white cloths. One cloth was used to apply the solvent, and a separate dry one was used to wipe the surface clean.

The final step of surface preparation had Jordan using a DuPont Sontara static control wipe to reduce static charge before applying paint or primer.

For the next step, Jordan used a Gerson tack cloth to pick up any remaining dust and lint from the body surface. When preparing the tack cloth for use, it's best to unfold it completely and create a nice, loose pad to whisk across the panel surfaces.

With the car's prep completed, Newell wasted no time in mixing the PPG DP90 sealer (PPG DP90 sealer in a ratio of two parts DP90 to one part DP402LF hardener along with 20 percent PPG DT860 reducer) to give the car its first coating. The sealer allows Newell to not only lay down a uniform color base on the car, but also to seal the surface from any potential break through in the primer once all of the final sanding was completed.

Wow! Let the changes begin. With the sealer laid down, the car is already starting to take on a life of its own, and it sure looks evil coated in black.

After the paint was properly shaken, Newell mixed and strained the PPG Deltron 2000 urethane basecoat with the PPG DT 860 reducer in a 1:1 ratio to prepare it for spraying. By the time he was done, Newell had laid down six coats of base through his SATAjet 3000 spray gun, each with a flash time of 15 minutes.

With each step of the painting process, Newell brings the car closer to completion. The application of the Ferrari Grigio Silverstone base lays out a dramatic picture of what the final outcome of Project Karma will be.

With the basecoat complete, Newell applied the first of four coats of PPG high solids clear to the body to bring out the final luster. Newell mixed the clear using three parts D894 high solids clear to three parts PPG D870 fast thinner to one part PPG high solids hardener. Note that there is a 20-minute flash time between coats.

One thing that separates a good paintjob from a great one is the attention to detail the paint surface receives once everything is dry. After the body is fully examined, Newell wet-sands the surface using 3M Imperial 1,000-grit through 2,000-grit paper in graduated stages. This is followed by a final compound and polish using 3M's Perfect-It system.

On the rear quarter-panel, Newell begins wet-sanding the area with 1,000-grit paper wrapped around a semi-flexible foam sanding block, working the pad in a left to right motion. It's important to take it easy throughout the process of taking down orange peel in the paint while not cutting too far through the four coats of clear. This is the typical residue that will be generated by the wet-sanding process.

Newell uses the back side of the sanding block (with the paper removed) to squeegee the surface clean for inspection. It's important to wash the panel you are working on between steps with fresh water and wipe it with white paper towels to check on your progress.

This image lets you see the halfway progress Newell made working the panel (from 1,000-grit through 2,000-grit) and just how dramatically it changes visually while on its way to perfection. In the transitional area of the panel you can see where the orange peel starts and ends.

When working some of the finer curvaceous edges on the panel, Newell used a soft foam sanding block to take on these areas that require an extreme amount of care.

With the surface washed clean and free of wet-sanding debris, Newell laid down some of 3M's Perfect-It compound to prepare for buffing.

Using a variable speed buffer topped with a white foam pad, Newell begins to work the quarter-panel from left to right. Be sure to use enough compound to lubricate the pad, then move the buffer lightly across the panel to avoid heat buildup and possible burning of the paint.

After buffing half of the panel with compound, you can begin to see the dramatic change to the overall appearance in the depth of the paint.

Newell made a final pass with a black foam buffing pad working the polish on the surface. It's important to keep the buffer moving and to apply only light pressure so as to not damage the paint surface as you work your way across the panel.

All of the hours invested in the surface preparation of Rose's car made the overall quality of the paintjob just plain bitchin'. This is one car that will stop you dead in your tracks when you see it in person. Newell settles for nothing short of perfection, and it's easy to see why clients send their cars to him from all over the country.

We finished left off by removing the shoddy applied seam sealer but acting on a hunch we found even more horriffic scene that required us to order up a pair of complete reproduction rear quarter panels for the 1968 Chevy Camaro. - Camaro Performers Magazine » Read More